


Happy Birthday, Nicky

by lettadaloki



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, F/M, Flashbacks, Holotapes, Takahashi's Power Noodles, Valentine Detective Agency
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-05-31 19:13:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6484084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lettadaloki/pseuds/lettadaloki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He turns, his coolant was pumping, and his eyes were filled with a fire that Ellie had never seen before. Nick sees it reflecting in her eyes, and he recoils, taking a step back. “Ellie.. I’m so sorry.. I just..” </p>
<p> And then his eyes are on that holotape. He takes it, peeling the note. He reads it aloud, his voice choking. “Happy Birthday to my favorite synth detective.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy Birthday, Nicky

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what my deal is with birthdays, but here ya go. :3

_**March 15th, 2288.** _

  There was something about March 15th that always put Nick in a foul mood. He’d spend only about half the day working on case work, and the rest of the day sulking and smoking, but with all of Ellie’s pestering there was no answer as to why this day of the year soured him so. 

  Ellie couldn’t wrap her head around it. Year after year she watched her boss keep an optimistic attitude that some would find hard to have in the Commonwealth, let alone Diamond City, until just this one day of the year. However, this year, something was different. She tucked her keys into her satchel that hung around her shoulder, something that wasn’t easy to find in the Commonwealth, but Nick had given it to her for her birthday. 

“Hey Nick, wanna go to Takahashi’s? I’m buying.” 

  Those golden irises glanced up from his terminal. He wasn’t hungry. He never was. The synth didn’t need to eat, but maybe if he just complied Ellie would get off his back. He steps back from his seat, adjusting his tie.  “Let’s go.” 

  Nick recalled there being a legend that noodles were a popular comfort food amongst young adults. Power Noodles was no exception to this. The counter was littered with cram and dirty water that Takahashi would occasionally use to season the bowl, yet somehow folks always crowded around for Takahashi's specials. Luckily, it wasn't too busy, and there were two barstools open for Ellie and himself. He took a seat, his metallic fingertips tapping the counter.  “Takahashi, how are ya?” 

“Nan-ni Shimasho-ka?”

  “Glad to hear it.” He would nod. The protectron had been broken for years, but the mayor refused to fix it. Piper was convinced that Takahashi knew something that the mayor didn't want to spill the beans on. Ellie slid Takahashi a few bottlecaps, one leg crossing over the other, staring at Nick. Nick’s eyes rolled slowly as he glanced over.  “I suppose you’re planning to ask the same question you ask every year..”

  “What happened, Nick?” She leaned against the counter, frowning with deep concern. Nick sighed, glancing back towards his bowl of noodles.  And then she does it. 

  “Please?”

  How can anyone resist eyes like that.. Dogmeat didn’t even give him such hurtful looks. Ellie's big green eyes gazed at him, looking as if she may just start crying on the spot and make a scene. The detective takes a look around. No one seemed interested in snooping on him today, well, at least not the people he cares for. He begins. “Well.. It doesn’t really matter anymore, now that Eddie Winter’s corpse is rotting in the cellar of a sandwich shop, but this was the day that Jennifer Lands died…Nick’s fiancee.” 

  Ellie’s frown doesn’t go away, and neither does Nick's. He slides Takahashi a few extra bottlecaps for the good noodles, and leaves the barstool and Ellie. Ellie peers over to look at the bowl. He didn’t even pick up the damn chopsticks. "Takahashi, can I get a to go box? He might get hungry later.."

_ **Midnight** _

  Ellie had crashed an hour earlier than Nick had made his ascension up the stairs. She slept downstairs, he slept upstairs. He sat on his cot and reclined his feet, his boots lifting to cross on the edge of the bed with his back to the wall. He tucked down the tip of his hat, his right metallic hand reaching out to pinch the candle’s flame to a quick death. 

  When Nick would travel the Commonwealth with that blue suited vault dweller, Nora, he noticed that every person that died had a look about them that was unforgettable. His eyes closed tightly, as he tried to remember. He could remember it like it was yesterday.

  The blood pooling from her head, as he desperately begged his baby girl to wake up, pleading to her that they had to go and try on her wedding dress. Where he could feel the crack of her skull underneath all those beautiful golden whisps of hair, now stained and burnt by the heat of a bullet and her blood. The inconsolable Nick screaming as he was pried away from her dead body, his own jacket soaked in her blood. He wondered what Jenny’s last thoughts were. His eyes opened, a hand reaching to rub at tears that were no longer there. He glances down below him, to see Ellie, curled into a fetal position as she had always slept.. And then he sees a shadow, and those eyes widen.

  He knew that damn shadow _**anywhere**_.

  With his revolver in hand, he rushed down the stairs, an arm reaching in Ellie’s general direction to shield, as if that could save her. “YOU! STOP!” 

  Ellie sat up from mid-snore, gasping. “What’s..What’s going on..What’s wrong Ni-”She yelped when Nick fired his weapon, most assuredly waking up half of Diamond City. The door was left wide open, the lock having been jimmied. A stranger had intruded.. A mysterious one at that.  “DAMN!” Nick growled, throwing his weapon across his desk, knocking over coffee mugs and case files. 

  As if his day couldn’t get any worse, Ellie kneels against the floor, picking up an orange holotape, with a note attached. “Nick. Look.” 

  He turns, his coolant was pumping, and his eyes were filled with a fire that Ellie had never seen before. Nick sees it reflecting in her eyes, and he recoils, taking a step back. “Ellie.. I’m so sorry.. I just..” 

  And then his eyes are on that holotape. He takes it, peeling the note. He reads it aloud, his voice choking. “Happy Birthday to my favorite synth detective.” 

  Ellie was frozen, she even stumbled to mumble, “N..Nick.. Maybe there’s something on it?” 

  He swallowed the enormous lump in his throat, taking a seat. He carefully loads the tape into his terminal, staring at the screen patiently. No special code, no programming, not even a copy of Zeta Invaders, instead, he hears a voice on the other side. A voice that makes his stomach wretch. 

**_“Hey Nicky!”_  **That was his nickname from her. No one else called him that, save for the occasional slip up the Sole Survivor had every now and then, and even then he gave them the impression he didn’t care for that.

**_“Happy thirtieth birthday!”_**  Two years later, and he asked her to marry him. It was a few months after that she was shot and killed, and even longer that he became a synth.  **“ _The boys at the station told me that you had to work tonight.. We’re gonna miss you at the Gala tonight, but maybe I can watch the sunrise with you in your Corvega instead. I'll even cook you some breakfast.”_**

  The audio paused for a second, Nick’s thumb over the space bar. He wasn’t sure if he could go on. Something in Ellie made her lift his thumb with her fingertips, tapping it again with her pinky to resume. There’s another short pause, before her voice begins again, singing as light as ever. Nick always thought she sounded like Skeeter Davis, something he could swoon to.

_ **“Happy Birthday, to you.. Happy Birthday to you.. Happy Birthday Mister Detective..”** _

  She stopped singing to giggle a bit at her ad lib. The corner of Nick's lips tug faintly.  _ **“Happy Birthday to you.. Love you, Nicky. See you in the morning.”**_

_ _


End file.
